The Devil and The Death God
by TheCrossoverQueen
Summary: The chance of Hiruma Yoichi and Kurosaki Ichigo meeting was less than 0%. The chance of one asking the other out on a date was even less. But somehow, it happens anyway and each try to unravel the complicated life of the other. Yaoi.
1. Chapter 1

Hiruma stared out the window of the small cafe he was in on some nameless street in Karakura town. He wasn't there for the shop's disgustingly sweet confections or their stupid caramel mocha frappa-what-the-fucking-ever. He like his coffee black, like his soul, and the stupid fancy little cakes in their display case were grating on his nerves. But he wasn't there to use innocent pastries as target practice either. No, he was there to watch someone. A very specific someone who at first just made him curious and was now haunting his thoughts every waking minute of every day. Even when he was concentrating in class or shooting idiots at football practice, his visage was always in the back of his mind, just waiting to spring to the forefront again when Hiruma had finally thought he'd forgotten the number fifteen jersey that blazed onto the field like a comet.

That's what they were calling him now. The Comet. He'd come from nowhere. Appearing in the world of high school American football and then disappearing just as quickly. He'd left spectators stunned and reporters gaping and fellow players with an impression burned in their minds of the athlete they all aspired to one day be. The fucking chibi's speed, that moronic kicker's long legs, the strength of a linebacker, and the impossible god speed reflexes that only appeared once in a century (now proven to appear twice). The Karakura Poltergeists tore the opposing team apart with good strategy and the skill of their surprise ace.

Of course, Hiruma had to look into them.

The only one worth noticing was Kurosaki Ichigo. Seventeen. A third year in high school. He hired himself out for a week to whichever sports team was willing to pay him the most. High school delinquent and almost an idol at Karakura High, he ranked within the top 20 of his entire school. He beat up anyone who ridiculed his bright orange hair and there was no one in all of Karakura who could land a hit on him. He had a father, two sisters, and a mother who died under mysterious circumstances. But what really caught Hiruma's attention was his multiple absences in his first year of high school. He was gone for days, sometimes weeks at a time. To where, Hiruma couldn't find out, even with his extensive network of slaves. There were no hospital records, no travel tickets, no debit card charges or online purchases that gave any hint of where he ran off too. He quite literally disappeared, even running right out of the classroom with no warning if his classmates were to be believed.

And the town was just as mysterious as the man. Mysterious explosions and deaths terrorized the city, growing in frequency until one day all contact was lost with Karakura. For ten straight hours, no calls, no radio transmissions, and no transport was successfully sent or received. It made national news and when contact was re-established, the townspeople hadn't even noticed anything was wrong. Every single person that was interviewed by an official had lost ten hours and every clock had been set ten hours back. There still wasn't any answers for what had happened and the explosions continued, though with much less frequency and death.

While researching Kurosaki's disappearances, Hiruma noticed something very interesting. In the weeks leading up to Karakura's ten hour blackout, Kurosaki disappeared more and more often until he was gone from the day before the blackout to almost a month after. Then, the disappearances stopped completely. He went to school normally and his grades went back up. A few weeks ago, he'd started running out of class again and Hiruma still couldn't figure out what he did. His slaves couldn't keep up with him and Hiruma always lost him on the traffic cameras.

Hiruma snapped out of his thoughts and zeroed in on bright orange hair walking past the window he was seated in front of. Kurosaki Ichigo, the person who'd been plaguing his thoughts since his game against the Chuuoudai Panthers almost a week ago, casually walked by on his way home from school with two of his friends. Hiruma couldn't care less about his friends. They were average people in an average world. He zeroed in on Kurosaki like a sniper and watched as he talked and laughed until they were all gone from sight.

Hiruma put his head in his hand and berated himself for being such a creep. This was the fourth time that he's done this. He travels all the way to Karakura and sits in this cafe everyday just to get a glimpse of Kurosaki and then thinks about him all the time in Tokyo. Hiruma grit his teeth, suddenly angry. What the fuck was wrong with him? Why was Kurosaki making him like this? How the fuck was his team supposed to go to the Christmas bowl if their quarterback didn't have his head completely in the game? Enough was enough. Hiruma roughly shoved his seat back, slammed some money on the table, and darted out the door of the cafe. Kurosaki was still in sight of the shop. Hiruma ran to catch up and put an end to this once and for all.

* * *

So, this is the first time I've ever published fanfiction before, (but not the first time I've written it.) It's a crack/rare pairing trying to be serious, so I'm kind of nervous about people's response. Please let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

Ichigo was being followed. It was very subtle and he doubted that a normal human would have noticed, but Ichigo didn't go through a war and not learn a few things, like being able to tell when someone was tailing him. Ichigo used the reflections in the windows of the shops he was passing to study the guy. The reflection was faint, but it was hard not to notice the spiky bleach blond hair. He's been acting like he's been on his cell phone the whole time, but he was definitely following Ichigo. He stayed a exact ten steps behind him the whole time and no one was that perfect when they were absentmindidly texting on their phone.

Ichigo quickly ducked into a small alley and crouched behind a foul-smelling dumpster, waiting for the guy to follow him in. Ichigo could barely see him over the black trash bags as he cautiously enter the alley. The guy cursed at losing him, no longer playing being on his phone, and rushed towards the end of the tiny alley. He probably though Ichigo had made a run for it. Right when he was about to come across him in his hiding place, Ichigo struck. He grabbed the blond by his dark jacket and shoved him into the opposite concrete wall, almost tripping over an overturned silver trashcan in the process.

"Why are you following me?" demanded Ichigo. Wide green eyes looked at him through a few locks of blond fringe and for a second Ichigo was just a little bit worried that he'd maybe been wrong and an innocent bystander of his war-time paranoia wasn't following him. Then the guy smiled, showing off a mouth full of sharp teeth, and cackled.

"You're more interesting than I thought."

Ichigo glared down at the very pointy teenager and demanded again, "Why are you following me?"

"Because you're interesting."

"That doesn't answer my question very well."

"Maybe you'll get a better answer if you get something to eat with me."

Ichigo's eyebrows went up at that. "What?"

"Get something to eat with me."

Ichigo slowly let go of the spiky teen's black jacket after figuring out that he wasn't messing with him. "Sorry, I don't eat with strangers."

"Kurosaki Ichigo. Seventeen. Third year at Karakura High school. Two sister and a father. Karate lessons for two years. Always gets into fights." Hiruma listed off with ease, "I know plety about you. The only stranger here is you."

Ichigo stared hard at him. A lot of what he'd listed off could easily be found out with a bit of snooping, but some of that other stuff, like how he took karate lessons when he was young, only his friends and family knew. Oh, sure there were records, but the dojo he'd attended had been small and without computers at the time. Whoever wanted them would be hard pressed to dig them up.

"How do you know all that?"

"Eat with me and maybe you'll find out."

The two ended up in a small café on the same street their confrontation happened. Hiruma sat sprawled in the uncomfortable metal wire chair while Ichigo rested his elbows on the table, manners be damned. Ichigo could tell the guy in front of him was only acting nonchalent. There was subtle tension running through his entire body. Only his face looked completely relaxed.

"How did you know all that stuff back in the alley?" Ichigo asked.

"Personal sources." Hiruma smirked.

Ichigo ground his teeth together, "If you're not going to give me straight answers, I'm leaving."

Ichigo saw a tiny twitch of the head at that. He narrowed his eyes. For whatever reason, this guy didn't want him to leave.

"Who are you anyway?"

"Hiruma Yoichi."

"Kurosaki Ichigo," Ichigo stopped his fists from clenching, no need to give anything away, " but you already know that." He sat back and crossed his arms, trying to calm himself down. This guy couldn't do anything to him that hasn't been done before during the war. "How do you know me?"

Hiruma sat forward and laced his fingers together on the table, deciding to actually be serious. "Do you remember playing in an American football game a week ago?"

Ichigo gave him a look. "It was only a week ago. Of course I remember it."

"Well, I saw that match. I'm the captain of one of the other football teams and I managed to figure out who the mysterious number fifteen from Karakura was. You've impressed a lot of people. Other players are searching for you to either recruit you or go against you." Hiruma explained.

"And which one are you?"

"Neither. I found you for fun, but the more I found out about you the more interesting you got."

"And?" Ichigo prompted when Hiruma didn't say anything else. Ichigo remained nonchalant when the silence dragged on.

Here, Hiruma was stuck. It was one of the rare times in his life when he didn't want to blackmail someone. He didn't need a puppet. He wanted a… companion? Or the dreaded word, a boyfriend? Hiruma didn't know what the fuck he wanted. Only that he wanted to spend time around Kurosaki and really get to know him. He was a mystery and Hiruma loved a good mystery.

But, Hiruma didn't know how to ask Kurosaki out without sounding like a total freak. He's never asked anyone out, really. He's never needed or wanted to.

Hiruma opened and closed his mouth wordlessly as the waitress brought them their food, giving Ichigo an appreciative glance and Hiruma a slightly terrified one. Ichigo didn't notice or care and Hiruma was used to the looks.

"Well?" Ichigo asked as he dug into his food, "Why did you decide to follow me?"

Hiruma just stared at him as he ate and thought 'Fuck it. I'm already a fool and I'll be a fool any way I go about this.'

"Will you go out with me?"

"Will you go out with me?"

Ichigo choked on the food he was about to swallow and coughed harshly. He flailed for a few seconds and grabbed a glass of water, chugging it, forcing the food down. His airways cleared and he panted, relieved at being able to breathe again.

"What?" he exclaimed, slightly hoarse.

"Will you go out with me?" Hiruma repeated. Ichigo could see that despite him being seemingly composed, Hiruma was nervous. A drop of sweat slid down the side of his face and his fingers couldn't stop fidgeting. Hiruma couldn't meet his eyes.

"I don't even know you!"

"Isn't that what dates are for? To get to know each other?"

Well, that was true, but, "You stalked me!"

Hiruma crossed his arms, "I followed you for five minutes." He was silent for a minute and before Ichigo could say anything else, quietly admitted, "I didn't know how to ask you."

Ichigo could see it took a lot for Hiruma to admit that. He knew that it took a lot of courage to ask someone out, not that he ever has, but he was sure it was doubley more so to ask someone you didn't actually know.

The kid at least _looked_ interesting with his spikey blond hair, pointy ears, and peircings. He'd seen stranger looking in Soul Society. Honestly, Ichigo had never thought of accepting someone's offer for a date.

Ichigo thought as he continued eating. Why shouldn't he go out with the guy? No had ever had the guts to actually follow him around to ask him out. Everyone at school except his friends were still kind of intimidated by him. He knew a few girls have tried, but they never managed to get it out and Ichigo just ignored notes in his shoes locker. Something like this, he believed, should be face to face, like this Hiruma guy was doing. Ichigo really didn't care who asked him out was a boy or a girl. What was important was that he liked them and he liked that Hiruma went after what he wanted and didn't let anything deter him.

Across from him, Hiruma was trying, and succeeding, to keep his shoulders from rising up past his ears. He was pretty good at hiding his reactions and emotions, but Ichigo had learned to read people in battle where a simple shift of the leg could change your opponent's whole attack. But Hiruma wasn't an opponent. Ichigo often forgot that his age mates were still just kids, not war veterans at seventeen like he and his friends were.

In the moment of watching Hiruma (subtly) fidget after just asking someone out, Ichigo thought 'what the hell'. There was nothing to lose. Maybe he'd actually gain something.

"Ok." Said Ichigo.

Hiruma stared at him, his eyes widening slightly. He leaned back in his chair again after a moment, feigning ease when Ichigo could see his pulse jumping in his neck. He didn't say anything, just smirked, which Ichigo ignored.

"So," Ichigo said, setting his plate aside,"What did you have in mind?"


	3. Chapter 3

Hiruma berated himself like he'd been doing for the past few days over and over again. Stupid. How could he have been so stupid? He could admit to himself that he'd maybe panicked a little when he saw Kurosaki disappear from his view in the café. All he could think about was going back home to Tokyo with Kurosaki swirling around in his thoughts still. He wouldn't get any work done that night at home and he'd still be distracted at school the next day. Enough that Kurita and Musashi would send him worried glances throughout the day. And the rest of the fucking team was catching on, too. So, he'd panicked and for the first time since he was a child, Hiruma Yoichi went in without a plan.

He'd run after Kurosaki like some besotted idiot and followed him like any other target. And then Kurosaki had disappeared in an alley and Hiruma panicked, _again_. He wasn't used to not being in complete control of himself and it, well, not scared him, but it secretly worried him. When Kurosaki had jumped out from behind a dumpster (a stupidly obvious hiding place Hiruma berated himself again) he really thought he was going to get pummeled. Kurosaki had a reputation for being harsh on anyone who messed with him.

Hiruma didn't know what the shit was that came out of his mouth. He was so caught off guard that he kept saying the first things that came to mind. Get something to eat? He was lucky Kurosaki didn't lay him into the concrete right then and there. To his amazement, something halfway decent actually came out of his mouth and it got Kurosaki to agree.

He thought he was going to swallow his tongue a few times throughout his pathetic talk in the cafe. He acted as nonchalant and noncaring as he could, but he was sure Kurosaki saw right through him. He saw it in his eyes and it was unnerving to be read so easily.

Then came more half thought shit out of his mouth and Hiruma was amazed the guy had said yes in the end. After making a fool of himself he didn't even know what to do for a date. So, he'd said the first thing that'd come to mind. A movie. At a theater in Tokyo that he'd seen the showings for in the newspaper that morning. A horror movie that started at five and now here he was waiting for a guy that might've changed his mind and not even show. That was looking more and more likely by the minute. Hiruma kept his anxious shifting to himself and tried not to feel like a fool that he was stood up after the giant blundering he'd made of himself.

Then he saw bright orange hair like beacon running across the crosswalk and there Kurosaki was. He slowed to walk when he got to the doors and he wasn't even panting in exertion.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, walking up to Hiruma, "I had trouble finding the theater. I've never been to this part of Tokyo before."

Hiruma didn't show the relief he felt. But he did hide a smile (a genuine smile! What was with him?) that he was sure Kurosaki saw anyway.

Walking back to the train station after the movie was going about as well as their talk in the café had. That is, they were barely getting by. They were silent on their walk. The awkwardness of every first date surrounded them in a haze and neither knew what to say to the other. The movie had gone off without a hitch. Both watched it silently, neither looking at the other and hands snatched away when they accidently touched in the popcorn bucket.

"So…" Ichigo said, trying to think of something to say.

"That was fucking stupid." Hiruma said.

Ichigo was silent. Was he talking about the movie or the date? Ichigo really hoped he was talking about the movie. He didn't want the date to be a bust. Hiruma had gone through a lot of trouble to ask him out.

"There were probably a whole bunch of knives in the kitchen they could've used to defend themselves." Hiruma continued.

Ichigo relaxed. He was talking about the movie.

"Worst case scenario, they could've broken a mirror and used the shards as weapons." Ichigo said.

"Or a window. And what the fuck was the blonde girl thinking when she ran out into the woods?"

"Yeah. There was no one around for miles. Where was she going to go?"

"Heh. And when that guy tripped. If you're running from a killer, you should fucking pick your legs up when you run. I hate horror movies. The people in them are so fucking stupid."

Ichigo looked at him curiously, "Then why did you choose a horror movie for us to watch?"

"I watch them for the special effects." Hiruma replied

They walked the rest of the way to the station talking about movie effects and how Hiruma applied them to real life. When they got to the station, both were unusually uneager to part.

Ichigo rubbed the back of his head, standing in front of Hiruma. There was a lot more to him that he didn't know and from their conversation, he was an interesting person.

"Want to ty again?" he asked.

Hiruma was looking off to the side, towards where the train would come in. He was still playing relaxed, slouching with his hands in his pockets, but it was more truthful than in the café.

"Sure." He said, "Coffee?"

Ichigo smiled, "Sure."

A week later saw Ichigo sitting in class, staring out the window on a bright autumn day. He wasn't paying attention to a word the teacher was saying. Instead, he was thinking about one Hiruma Yoichi.

Hiruma Yoichi was interesting to say the least. He looked interesting with his bleach blond hair, pointy ears, and sharp teeth. He talked interesting with his curse words in every other sentence. (Curse words have never bothered Ichigo anyway.) He was just interesting. An enigma. Sure, he scared and shocked people for fun, but the way he did it was genius. It kind of reminded him of Shakespeare in a way. Shakespeare wrote foolish stories and was applauded as a genius. Hiruma does genius things and, well, Ichigo doubted people thought of Hiruma as a fool, but his genius definitely wasn't as recognized as it should've been.

When Hiruma talked about the things he did with special effects, all but the simplest of it went right over Ichigo's head. He talked about the effect of gunpowder in fireworks and how he used it to control his explosions and make them flashier. He talked about FX make-up and setting a 'stage' for a 'performance'. At one point Ichigo thinks he might've talked about something to do with trajectories, but Hiruma was talking so rapidly and enthusiastically that it'd gone right over Ichigo's head and onto the next topic. It was great.

Hiruma wasn't like the girls who'd confessed to Ichigo before. They'd been too shy to even speak to him let alone have a conversation with him. Hiruma wasn't shy in the least. He knew what he liked and disliked and he wasn't afraid to disagree with you and cuss you out in the process. He spoke his mind. He didn't care what others thought. He wasn't afraid of hurting someone's feelings. Ichigo thought that was much better than someone just blushing and stuttering the whole time.

Ichigo caught himself smiling out the window, into the sun's rays and a confused expression replaced it. It'd only been two dates and he already knew he liked Hiruma. He could only wait and see if it was as a friend or more.

Their second date, a coffee date in Tokyo, had gone as well as the end of their first date. At first they'd talked stiltedly, but eventually it started flowing better and better until they were talking easily with each other. Ichigo had enjoyed himself immensely and Hiruma had almost completely relaxed by the end of it. Ichigo was curious about what could make Hiruma so on guard all the time, but he didn't ask. He wasn't even sure if Hiruma was aware that he never relaxed.

They'd talked about school and the idiots in their classes. They'd talked about Ichigo's fighting, how people from even Tokyo came to Karakura just to challenge him, and how quite a few gangs in the surrounding town had made fighting him an initiation rite. (Ichigo hadn't known that. He just beat up whoever came to fight him.) Most of all, they talked about football, which Hiruma very obviously loved. The word 'obsessed' came to mind.

In that one conversation, Ichigo had learned more about football and the high school players than he'd ever learned by playing the few games he had. Hiruma had even shown him some clips on his phone.

"You're really into this aren't you?" Ichigo had asked with a smile.

Hiruma had bluntly replied, "Of course. I wouldn't have been playing it for this long if it didn't like it."

"Oh? How long have you been playing?" Ichigo prompted.

And that had encouraged Hiruma to launch into how he'd first discovered football ("An American military base?") and how he'd gathered each member of his team. Ichigo loved his enthusiasm. He'd never seen anything like it in anyone else. Sure, a lot of shinigami in Soul Society had their love of fighting, but that was different. That was the fighting spirit of warriors. This was something else. Something Ichigo couldn't quite pinpoint. It was something that made Ichigo himself excited about a sport he'd never cared about before.

"That's amazing." Ichigo had laughed in response to Hiruma's tale about how he had gathered his team.

"It worked out," Hiruma shrugged, "Better than anything I could've planned."

"Sometimes life does that." Ichigo agreed, thinking about how he'd had no idea what he wanted to do with his life and now Soul Society was paying him a captain's wage for exterminating hollows and protecting an ingredient for the king's key- Karakura Town.

Hiruma huffed, "Life's a bitch. Always messing up my plans."

Ichigo chuckled.

"You know they're starting to call you The Comet?"

"Huh?" Ichigo made a confused noise at Hiruma.

"The high school football world. The players, the coaches, the magazines. They're calling you The Comet. Because you suddenly appeared in the world of football and disappeared just as quickly."

Ichigo sat back. "Huh," he stated, "That's—"

Weird. It was still weird that a bunch of people he didn't know had given him a name.

Ichigo's hollow alert on his phone went off, bringing him out of his thoughts. He wondered how long he'd been staring out the window like a love struck fool and raised his hand with one of his typical excuses on his lips, ready to run out of class to protect his town.


	4. Chapter 4

Ichigo was waiting for Hiruma when his train came into the Karakura station. Ichigo smiled at him under the pasty lights of the station and Hiruma denied that it made his heart beat a little faster. They chatted leisurely as they made their way downtown to the small restaurant Ichigo had in mind for dinner.

"—and then the fucking chibi thought he was going to hang himself with a fucking coat hanger!"

Ichigo laughed, "Well, I'm sure from a distance it looked like a noose."

"…Not even the same fucking shape." Hiruma muttered.

"People tend to panic when faced with a situation like that."

"Yeah, yeah." Hiruma waved him off.

"Here we are." Ichigo opened the door for Hiruma to a small mom and pop restaurant in the middle of down town Karakura. Hiruma was surprised to see the inside of it looking decidedly western. The restaurant was a wide open space with rafters almost like a barn. The wallpaper depicted desert scenes and everything had a rustic look to it. There were cow skulls and horse knickknacks and wagon wheels in odd places and the waitresses were wearing cow spotted skirts.

"Cowboys? Are you fucking serious?"

"Shut up." Ichigo laughed, "They have good food. This has been my favorite restaurant since I was a kid."

Hiruma imagined a little Ichigo eating there with a tiny cowboy hat on his head, like the one a kid was wearing now with a different family, and decided that if he could get a picture of that, he would have very good blackmail material indeed. Then he berated himself. He wasn't supposed to blackmail his…boyfriend? He didn't want just another slave he reminded himself.

Their waitress, who had black hair and a red cowgirl hat, led them to a red booth with squeaky seats. It had a window facing the chilly, lit up streets of Karakura. They were actually pretty empty compared to Tokyo. Hiruma poked at the sad looking miniature cactus that served as the tan table's centerpiece and smirked.

"Shut up," Ichigo said playfully again. Hiruma raised his hands in surrender.

"I didn't say anything."

"You were going to." Ichigo accused.

Hiruma just smirked again. After a few minutes of looking at the old west named dishes on the old saloon door shaped menus, the waitress came back, her loud earrings jangling with her gait, and took their orders.

"So how's that Comet thing? Has it died down yet?"

"Nope," said Hiruma, sipping at his drink, "It's just gotten bigger. American Football Monthly posted videos of you playing in those games on their website."

Ichigo groaned, dropping his head to the table.

"At least they don't know who you are." Hiruma said.

"Yeah. Let's keep it that way."

Hiruma just drank his soda and sat back in his seat, the booth springs squeaking, with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Hiruma. We'll keep it that way, right?"

Hiruma set his soda on the table with a light 'tap'. The edges of his mouth were twitching.

"Hiruma."

Hiruma shot Ichigo his signature wide demonic grin that showed off every single one of his deadly-looking teeth. Ichigo wasn't fazed by it. He often saw worse on the eleventh division captain's face. Even the hollows he saw everyday had deadly grins worse than Hiruma's. Ichigo crossed his arms at him. The fake grin faltered, then faded. Hiruma gave Ichigo a considering look. He studied him for a minute, then came to a conclusion that Ichigo could see in his eyes. Hiruma knew that Ichigo wasn't affected by how he looked. Still sitting back in his seat, Hiruma also crossed his arms, almost gaining a pouting look if it weren't for the seriousness on his face.

"You're not unnerved by me." He tried to say it nonchalantly, but Ichigo could see his curiousness.

"No." Ichigo said, uncrossing his arms and leaning on his elbows on the table.

"Most people are."

"I'm not most people."

Each tried to star the other down and neither looked away. Hiruma narrowed his eyes at Ichigo, putting up a mask of confrontation to hide his disbelief and confusion.

"Why?"

Ichigo didn't miss a beat when he said, "Because it's just a mask."

Inside, Hiruma was stunned for a moment, but outside he glared at Ichigo.

"It is not—"

"It is." Ichigo interrupted him, "At least, that wide smile is. It's all teeth, it's too wide, it doesn't reach your eyes. It's too fake to be real. It's used to intimidate people because it's too unnatural. And it usually succeeds, doesn't it?"

Hiruma stayed silent, glaring at Ichigo with his arms still crossed.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Hiruma said.

"I do. I've made enough fake smiles to recognize one when I see one. But I want you to know that you don't have to pretend around me. I hate it when people fake a smile anyway."

Hiruma just stared at him, his surprise almost showing through. No one ever saw through his demonic smiles. Not even Musashi and Kurita, though they were aware that sometimes they weren't as genuine as everyone thought, they never saw through them like Kurosaki seemed to. He'd never run into anyone who could read him like Kurosaki could and Kurosaki could read him like a fucking book. He didn't know what it was. He always successfully hid his emotions behind his demonic looks. It was better that people questioned his humanness, even though he was just as human as everyone else on the planet. But Kurosaki… Kurosaki saw through his looks straight to him. Hiruma wasn't sure if he liked it or not and he wondered what Kurosaki's reaction would be like when he whipped out his guns around him for the first time.

"So on the way here you said you had a game this weekend?" Ichigo asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, against Kyoshin Poseidon."

"How do you think that will go?"

"Che, we'll win of course. Especially now that fucking fatty jr finally has his head in the game."

They spent a while talking about Hiruma's next game and the hellish training he put his team through in preparation for it. Then, the waitress brought them their food and both fell silent to eat. For two teenagers only on their third date, it was a surprisingly comfortable silence.

Ichigo thought as he munched on his barbeque burger, surreptitiously sneaking glances at Hiruma. He was trying to think of what to say once the two of them were done eating. It's not like they would just stay silent the whole time Ichigo walked Hiruma back to the train station. Ichigo's gaze wandered around the restaurant, taking in the sights and décor he'd known since he was a child. His eyes fell upon a few of the other patrons, a small family of three. A little brunet boy sat with a little red cowboy hat on his head, something the restaurant provided all children, gesturing animatedly with his fork at smiling parents.

"What's your family like?" Ichigo asked once last bites were taken and napkins were bunched into balls on plates.

Hiruma stared at him with an unreadable expression on his face, but Ichigo didn't start sweating or get nervous under that gaze. He just waited patiently when Hiruma turned to stare out the window.

'Okay,' thought Ichigo as the waitress brought the bill, 'that's a topic to stay away from.'

Ichigo grabbed the bill before Hiruma could. He didn't say anything about it like Ichigo thought he would. Instead he just stared out the window, seemingly searching the streets with his eyes. He leaned against it, breath fogging the glass and golden streetlights painting his face in a way the sun never could. Ichigo was mesmerized by it and he still snuck glances at Hiruma as they walked the dark streets after paying their bill and leaving the restaurant. They walked under streetlight after streetlight. Each and every one of them showering Hiruma with a golden glow that made Ichigo's breath stutter in his chest, even as Hiruma seemed lost in thought, until the stark white lights of the train station interrupted the pathway of gold raining down on them.

Hiruma's train to Tokyo rolled in, but he stopped before getting on.

"Look," Ichigo said before Hiruma could say anything, "I'm sorry if the question I asked was a sore topic for you. You don't have to talk about anything you're uncomfortable with."

Hiruma shut his mouth that he'd opened to talk before Ichigo had interrupted him and nodded. He took something out of his pocket and held out a ticket to Ichigo.

"This is a ticket to my game on Saturday." Hiruma said simply. Ichigo stared at it for a minute, taken a little off guard. Then, he smiled blindingly and took it.

"I'll be there." He said.

Hiruma just 'che-ed' and got on the train.

Saturday saw Ichigo sitting in the stands surrounding the football field where the Deimon vs Kyoshin game would be taking place. The bleachers were packed with people all eager to see the game and Ichigo could see the Devilbats team in their red uniforms on the field. For now, they were just standing around waiting for the game to start. The cheerleaders were currently doing all the work, jumping around and waving their pom-poms. They were getting the crowd into the spirit of the game.

Then Kyoshin's cheerleaders came out on the opposite side of the field in very cosplay-worthy costumes that would have shown a lot of skin if it weren't for the black garment underneath it. Among them was an extremely tall, very male teenager who was also wearing said cosplay-worthy costume. He cheered along with the cheerleaders for a minute, getting their routine down as if he'd actually practiced with them. (Who knows, maybe he did.) Then, he jumped right out of the costume and into the hands of a circle of cheerleaders who threw him high into the air, did a couple of flips, and landed right on his hands. It riled the crowd up. They cheered what Ichigo assumed was the guy's name enthusiastically.

"Mizumachi! Mizumachi!"

Ichigo was not impressed. He's seen greater feats of physical strength done, but he supposed if he were a normal human, it might've been impressive. Mizumachi turned around still on his hands to face the Devilbats. He said something that no one in the stands could hear and the smallest member of the team determinedly confronted him.

"That guy in the flier, that's him, isn't it? He's even got a bounty."

"Isn't it void now?"

Ichigo overheard two guys sitting above him in the bleachers say.

"Nah, it's still valid! Ten thousand yen to the person who catches him." Hiruma shouted up at them. How had he even heard them?

'I guess those ears aren't just for show.' Ichigo thought. Hiruma's eyes traveled a little lower, catching sight of Chico's blinding orange hair, and their eyes met. Ichigo flashed him a smile and Hiruma turned away before Ichigo could see his expression.

"Ten Thousand Yen!" Multiple people shouted. Several of them suddenly swarmed over the fence and onto the field with yen signs in their eyes and things like net and rope in their hands. Every single one of them had huge greedy grins on their faces and Ichigo shuddered. It was a disturbing scene in that it showed the core of human greed. All those people dogpiled the little football player and Ichigo really wondered what Hiruma was thinking for a second. Then the entire pile trembled and little number fifty-five, who Ichigo was guessing was either 'fucking shrimp' or 'fucking fatass Jr' as Hiruma called them, was revealed to have lifted the entire pile of human bodies on top of him.

"That's some incredible power!" someone shouted.

"Deimon's shorty isn't bad either!"

Mizumachi and the small player faced each other with expressions Ichigo would recognize anywhere. They were challenging each other, but not in battle. They were challenging each other on a field, in a sport, in a high school game. In the moment Ichigo saw their expressions, he forgotten where he was for a second and who he was looking at.

High school students. Ichigo reminded himself, it's just a game. His eyes traveled to Hiruma's back. But a game taken very seriously by some.

"Doburoku-sensei!" a shrill voice brought his eyes back to the rest of the Devilbats players and he saw someone else dramatically coming out onto the field, cloaked in shadows. It was…a naked old man with a pig and only a leaf covering between his legs. Ichigo made a face and some other people in the stands made noises of disgust when they saw who had come out.

'Doburoku…the coach they had to get out of debt in America and practically drag him back to Japan?' Ichigo thought. ' _That's_ their coach?'

The small pig that the old man had dragged with him was looking curiously at the brown dog on the field while the players carefully laid the old coach out on the bench and covered him with a jacket. Hiruma looked incensed, but the other players just looked kind of disturbed.

Suddenly, the fans on the other side of the field shot up with their hands in the air, then immediately sat back down in a cheer. The wave flowed across the stadium as fans did their favorite team's signature cheer.

"Poseidon! Poseidon!" the fans cheered. The Kyoshin players walked out of their dugout to tower above the referees, much to their consternation, and the Devilbats huddled up.

"We'll kill them!" they cried. Ichigo chuckled at the shout. Partly because of the seriousness of such a heavy statement coming out of the high schooler's mouths and partly because it was very obviously Hiruma who had come up with the cry.

"The nationwide American football tournament! Deimon vs Kyoshin, collision of the strong newcomers! Game Start!" the announcer's voice rang through the stadium and the fans cheered even louder for the start of the game.

Ichigo kept his eyes on Hiruma the whole game, watching him be a quarterback, a commander. He followed all of Hiruma's handoffs to the number twenty-one player and groaned with the rest of crowd when Mizumachi finally made it past the small round lineman to tackle twenty-one.

"Mizumachi-kun has crushed Komusubi-kun!" The announcer blared, "Deimon's offense fails! Kyoshin takes the offensive!"

The Deimon cheerleaders held up signs cheering for Deimon's defense and the crowd was still cheering for them, waving their plastic bat wings in the air. But, on the next play, Mizumachi blocked three of Deimon's players by himself and the crowd was left gaping. Ichigo heard a guy in a cowboy hat to the left of him tsk and say, "You're in a pinch, Deimon chibis!"

'Deimon Chibis? Is that what people call them?' Ichigo wondered. He eyed the Devilbats and was easily able to pick out which ones would be called the Deimon Chibis, due to the three of them being the shortest on the team. Ichigo laughed when Hiruma raged at the three of them, being held back by their biggest player, as he threw something at them. Ichigo could hear it all the way from where he sat in the stands.

"Were you all asleep or something, you fucking shrimps?! The plan cards are no use if you all get blocked by Mizumachi alone!"

As the teams were getting into position again, a bigger man walked down the bleacher stairs, much to the excitement of several fans.

"Deimon will be knocked out here." He said.

"Onihei!" shouted a fan excitedly.

"It's Onihei-san!"

Ichigo scowled at the man's back as he stopped to talk to a group of people closer to the front who were all wearing the same uniform. Hiruma wouldn't let Deimon lose here. Ichigo was sure of it.

"Daikichii!" A shout sounded from the field and Ichigo turned his attention back the Devilbats to see another giant man and a short woman had joined the team on their side of the field. "What the weapon of our household's many men? Speed? Height? That's not it, stupid! The arm strength of a delivery worker! Don't forget that!"

'Man, there are some loud people here.' Ichigo thought. He really shouldn't be able to hear them from the field, but some stuff he heard easily with how loud they were yelling.

"Well! Just a little more to touchdown! Will Kyoshin Poseidon be the first to score?!" the announcer said.

Ichigo was a little impressed during the next play when tiny little Komusubi managed to get past Mizumachi with just strength and determination, getting Deimon the ball back in the process.

"Komusubi! Komusubi!" the crowd cheered. But, once again, Mizumachi got past Komusubi using that strange arm technique and tackled Hiruma as he was about to throw the ball.

Ichigo scowled hard, scaring the people next to him, and clenched his fists. He took a deep breath through his teeth and reminded himself that it was just part of the game and that Hiruma was wearing protective padding. Hiruma got right back up and started kicking at Komusubi, probably for letting Mizumachi through.

"Hut!" Hiruma called, signaling the next play. He passed the ball to Twenty-one and Komusubi once again, pushed Mizumachi back. Twenty-one rushed through the opening left, only to be blocked by the long arms of Kyoshin's number forty-one. A small fight broke out among a few Kyoshin players after the whistle was blown and the referee frantically tried to break them up, while Hiruma looked on with a considering look on his face.

"The Deimon Devilbats are resuming play in front of their own goal line! This is their fourth attack! Their last chance!" the announcer rang as the large number seventy-seven hiked the ball to Hiruma. Hiruma darted back, preparing to throw, only to be blocked by two of Kyoshin's tallest players before he could do more than focus on number eighty. In an instant, Hiruma switched from throwing to number eighty to throwing to Twenty-one, and Ichigo almost gaped. To be able to switch targets so quickly, it was almost like being able to change your stance and sword's position in an instant in battle. Hiruma's eyes were sharp and his reflexes quick and Ichigo flashed a blinding smile at him, even though he couldn't see it.

Kyoshin finally scored a touchdown in the next play after blocking Twenty-one, putting them in the lead and their fans went wild, doing another wave across the stadium. Twenty-one was blocked in the next play as well, leading Hiruma to whip out a gun and start shooting at his teammates. Ichigo raised an eyebrow at that, but no one but him seemed surprised at the action and the bullets just bounced harmlessly off of the players so Ichigo let it go for now. He just chalked it up to another one of Hiruma eccentricities. Hiruma was grinning at two of the Deimon chibi members and walked over to them with his machine gun behind his head, talking.

It's going to take a while to get used to the guns… Ichigo thought. He was used to swords, not guns. Swords were swift and silent, guns were loud and flashy. Right up Hiruma's alley.

The Devilbats huddled up again on the side of the field, talking for a few minutes before Hiruma once again shot at them. The Kyoshin players were with the cheerleaders, enthusiastically riling up the crowd.

"Set!" Hiruma yelled. The Devilbats were already in formation, but it was different.

"The number of runners in the back ready to rush with the ball is three?!" A fan near Ichigo exclaimed, "Eyeshield and Monta are in a combination play!"

'So, Eyeshield is number twenty-one and Monta must be number eighty.' Ichigo realized.

The play started and Hiruma faked passing the ball, running with it himself. Ichigo cheered with the rest of the fans and startled when Hiruma threw the ball to Eyeshield without even looking his way.

'He's good'. Ichigo thought. Hiruma was in his element.

"Th-this is…!" Even the announcer was shocked, "After appearing to rush in while holding the ball, Ishimaru-kun blocks Mizumachi-kun! Hiruma-kun blocks Ohira-kun!"

Eyeshield and Monta both ran with the ball, Monta blocking a player, allowing Eyeshield to gain the team twenty yards. Deimon did the same play again, this time Ishimaru ran with the ball while Kyoshin used all their manpower to block Eyeshield and Ichigo finally caught the name of the technique—Wishbone. It was an amazing play. It was even more amazing once you realized it was all up to the quarterback to make the right decision in the split second of seeing the opponent's play. Ichigo's ears picked up Hiruma's name coming from guy farther down in the bleachers.

"Hiruma Yoichi. He's truly the Deimon Devilbat's hidden ace!"

A wide grin spread out across Ichigo's face, almost hollow-like in its appearance, but for the absence of maliciousness.

'Their hidden ace, huh? Hiruma, you're amazing'. Ichigo truly meant that. He himself could never read a play with that many people so quickly. The usual one-on-one fights he found himself in were much simpler because there was only one opponent, but Hiruma could read all eleven players at once and make a split second decision. Ichigo knew that, had Hiruma received the right training, he would have made a formidable warrior.

'Training…' Now there was an idea.

Hiruma was running with the ball, easily getting past Kyoshin's high wave while they were distracted with the other runners and scored a touchdown. The fans went wild, and Ichigo with them.

"Blow them away!" Hiruma commanded on the next play. The linemen obeyed and they opened a path for Eyeshield to run through. He was almost blocked by one of the tall players from Kyoshin, but he executed a running move that almost left behind an after image of himself.

'He's fast for a normal human.' Ichigo admitted.

Eyeshield was tackled anyway, but it was a good run.

"First half over!" the referee announced.

The two teams retreated to their respective benches to rest and rehydrate. Ichigo kept his eyes on Hiruma as he sat on the bench and removed his helmet. He drank from his water bottle and seemed to feel eyes on him because he turned around and looked at the stands. He met Ichigo's eyes and Ichigo gave him a wide grin before Hiruma turned back around to eye the Kyoshin team.

As Hiruma turned back around, Ichigo noticed that he was the only one of the Deimon players that had sat down on the bench. The rest of the players surrounded him like an honor guard, watching the opposing team with him, listening to what he was saying. Hiruma really was their commander.

Twelve minutes later saw the teams stretching to resume the game. Ichigo raised an eyebrow when one of the taller Kyoshin players stepped right over Eyeshield as he was stretching.

'Intimidation tactics.' Ichigo inwardly scoffed. If Deimon's players were as spirited as they seemed from his place in the stands, there was no way such a thing would work on them.

Eyeshield was the one who ran with the ball in the first play of the second half. He found Kyoshin's number forty-one as his obstacle and tried to do the same run he'd done with the other player, but was tackled right out of it. Everyone in the stands seemed shocked, even the announcer.

"Th-the Devilbat Ghost has been crushed." He announced.

'What's the big deal?' Ichigo thought, 'Just get up and try again. Or try something else. You only lose when you give up.' But Deimon's players, even Hiruma, seemed taken off guard.

The next play started with a kickoff from Kyoshin and they gained three more points when the ball went into the goal. Deimon played the wishbone again and once again, Eyeshield was blocked by Kyoshin's number forty-one. Eyeshield's spirit was down. He was becoming complacent with the turn of events instead of fighting it with everything he had.

Suddenly, Deimon's manager started making wild hand motions, trying to convey something to the team. Some of the team members copied her movements, giving her a thumbs up and Ichigo sweat dropped.

'They don't know what she's trying to say.' But then again, neither did Ichigo. Suddenly Hiruma's head shot over to look at the Kyoshin player's backs, scaring the crap out of Eyeshield, who was just behind him, in the process. Hiruma had a wide-eyed look on his face like he'd just realized something. He put his helmet back on with a devious grin.

"The Deimon Devilbats. This is their last offensive!" the loudspeakers announced, "Now that Eyeshield Twenty-One has been blocked, they don't have an effective means of offense!"

"Hut!"

The Devilbats one again played the Wishbone, but this time, instead of running with the ball, Hiruma threw it to a player that hadn't been significant in the game so far. Number thirty-seven, the player people in the stand were cheering for as "Idiot".

Hiruma stopped to chat with Kyoshin's number forty-one and that drew the other team members in. By the end of the talk, they all looked serious. A big contrast from their cheering from before.

Monta successfully ran the next Wishbone, leading to a huge cheer from the stands and teammates alike. Hiruma gave him a big kick in the ass in…congratulations?

'I've still got a lot of things to learn about Hiruma.' Ichigo thought.

"Seven minutes left. The Deimon Devilbats have finally made a comeback!" the announcer shouted.

Kyoshin seemed despaired, but a few words from Mizumachi had some hope coming back into their eyes. When they walked back out onto the field, their four tallest players took position behind the rest of their teammates.

'That can't be good.'

The four Kyoshin players flowed forward together like a tidal wave when the ball was hiked. They crushed Deimon's line and blocked Hiruma's high pass.

Deimon nearly broke through Kyoshin's line in the next play, but Eyeshield was once again blocked by number forty-one and pushed back past his own line.

Deimon's number fifty-one broke through the line next, almost tackling the quarterback, but Kyoshin's quarterback was fast and he threw the ball before Fifty-one could even get to him. It flew across the field and straight into the hands of a player in the end zone, scoring Kyoshin a touchdown.

'He's a pretty good quarterback too.' Ichigo admitted, 'But not as good as Hiruma.' He smiled.

The little voice of Ichigo's hollow cackled in the back of his head. 'You've got it bad, King.' It said.

'Shut up.' Ichigo shushed him, but he couldn't deny what his hollow had said.

Again and again Deimon was blocked by Kyoshin's Poseidon technique, but they tried their hardest. They didn't quit. With eighteen seconds left on the clock, Hiruma addressed Eyeshield with the team standing around them. Ichigo couldn't hear what was being said, but they all had serious looks on their faces. Eyeshield said one last thing to Hiruma and Hiruma got the most pleased and devious look on his face.

Ichigo shivered a little at that look. It brought out all the pretty things about Hiruma. The sharpness of his eyes, the angle of his face, his hair over his eyes, the stretch of his lips in that grin. It brought out a look of wildness and Ichigo loved it.

"Only eighteen seconds left on the clock! If Deimon can't score a touchdown with this offensive, they lose their chance at a comeback victory!" the announcer shouted.

The players lined up in their positions, the crowd was cheering for their respective teams and finally, Hiruma shouted "Hut!" showing off his impressive fangs behind the helmet's guard. Hiruma handed the ball off to Eyeshield twenty-one and he ran straight into Kyoshin's forty-one's path. Every single player on that field was trying their hardest, giving it their all, and putting their whole bodies and spirits into the game. Eyeshield almost stopped in front of Forty-one, he almost gave up. Then he ran right towards him, not even bothering to try to find an alternate route, and put a spin into his run. He spun and ran right by Forty-one and everyone, even Hiruma, thought that he had a clear path to a touchdown.

Then Seventy-One, Mizumachi, made one last desperate lunge for Eyeshield and just barely stopped him.

"Stop the clock!" shouted one of Deimon's linemen.

"Time out!" howled Hiruma desperately.

Kyoshin and their fans went wild, screaming and cheering for an already assured victory. Hiruma addressed his team for the last time during the game and he said something to Eyeshield with a genuine grin on his face.

'I can't wait till he gives me one of those.' Ichigo smiled. This was what Hiruma loved about the game. The tension, the battle of wills, the spirit. The same reasons why Ichigo loved fighting.

The fans in the stands were cheering even louder now, both rooting for their teams from the bottom of their hearts.

"Set! Hut!" Hiruma shouted. Ichigo was surprised when no one moved and Hiruma kept shouting Hut until, on the ninth Hut, the field burst into an explosion of activity. Every player rushed toward the center, two immovable forces pushing at each other. Eyeshield jumped over everyone's heads, only to be met by the blocks of Kyoshin's two tallest players. They blocked Eyeshield, only for Mizumachi to be plowed into by little Komusubi and tackled sky high. Eyeshield managed to fall past all the linemen and everyone in the stadium held their breaths while the referee checked where the small player had landed with the ball.

"Touchdown!" he yelled.

Deimon's players smashed through Kyoshin's linemen, cheering, ripping their helmets off and slapping Komusubi and Eyeshield on the backs in congratulations. Hiruma stood back, hands on his hips and smiling, watching his team celebrate.

Ichigo had the biggest smile on his face as he clapped and cheered with everyone around him. Hiruma turned to face him and Ichigo raised his fist above his head in congratulations. Hiruma hefted his helmet above his head with one arm back at him in acknowledgement.

The teams got in line and bowed to each other some shook hands with others and they talked and congratulated each other on a good game. Ichigo looked on from the stands almost sadly. If only his fights could end like this, with everyone making friends and able to go home with a good experience in mind. But his fights were not games. They were war. People got hurt. People died. You don't make friends in war. You fight to protect friends. Ichigo's phone beeped with a hollow warning. Speaking of…

Ichigo left his seat and the stadium with a calm gait and serious eyes, opening his phone to see just where he was needed. Ichigo didn't waste his time on wishful thinking. He had his precious people to protect, a group that Hiruma was quickly becoming a part of.

A/N: So, I'm thinking of rewriting this instead of continuing it as it is. I'm thinking that right now, the plot is too flat. It's too boring. Romance is kind of hard for me to write and I've thought of some things that I want to add to the story that will make it more interesting. It will still be Ichiog/Hiruma and some of these chapters will be in the rewrite, but I want to make the plot more exciting. What do you guys think?


	5. Author's Note

Author's Note

Hey, everyone! I'm sorry this isn't a chapter, but I've decided to redo this story under the title The Devil and the Death God (ver.2). (Unoriginal, I know, but it works.) You can find it on my profile. The chapters here will be in the redone story, mostly the same as they are now. I've added a more exciting element to the story so it's more interesting, but there will still be little mundane moments like with this story. I hope you'll check it out!


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